TEXT [Commentary]

V. Parables of the Kingdom of Heaven (13:1-53)

A. The Parable of the Sower (13:1-9; cf. Mark 4:1-9; Luke 8:4-8)

1 Later that same day Jesus left the house and sat beside the lake. 2 A large crowd soon gathered around him, so he got into a boat. Then he sat there and taught as the people stood on the shore. 3 He told many stories in the form of parables, such as this one:

“Listen! A farmer went out to plant some seeds. 4 As he scattered them across his field, some seeds fell on a footpath, and the birds came and ate them. 5 Other seeds fell on shallow soil with underlying rock. The seeds sprouted quickly because the soil was shallow. 6 But the plants soon wilted under the hot sun, and since they didn’t have deep roots, they died. 7 Other seeds fell among thorns that grew up and choked out the tender plants. 8 Still other seeds fell on fertile soil, and they produced a crop that was thirty, sixty, and even a hundred times as much as had been planted! 9 Anyone with ears to hear should listen and understand.”

NOTES

13:1-2 A large crowd soon gathered. The setting of the third discourse is similar to that of the first (cf. 5:1); in both cases Jesus was surrounded by crowds. Jesus apparently paid little attention to his mother and brothers who wanted to speak with him (12:46; 13:1) and shortly left the house where he had been teaching for the nearby Sea of Galilee, where he spoke to the crowd standing by the shore (cf. Mark 4:1-9; Luke 8:4-8) while seated in a boat (cf. 5:1; 24:3). In 13:36, Matthew reports Jesus’ move from the seashore back to the house.

13:3 parables. Though Matthew’s narrative of Jesus’ teaching has already included occasional parabolic elements (7:24-27; 9:15-17; 11:16-19; 12:29, 33, 43-45), the word “parable” (parabolij [TG3850, ZG4130]) occurs here for the first time as Jesus speaks to the multitudes (13:3, 10, 13, 18, 24, 33-36, 53; 15:15; 21:33, 45; 22:1; 24:32). The word “parable” in the NT is related semantically to the word mashal [TH4912, ZH5442] in the OT (see Num 23:7, 18; 1 Sam 10:12; Ezek 17:2; 24:3), and both may be used to describe a proverb, an enigma, a riddle, a taunt, a simile, or an allegorical story. In all of these nuanced meanings, the common denominator is the use of analogy to illumine or obscure. From 13:3 one would assume that Jesus told many parables, and that Matthew selects representative stories that reflect the main themes of Jesus’ teaching that Matthew viewed as most relevant for his community.

A farmer went out to plant some seeds. The picture is of a farmer scattering seed by hand (cf. Ps 126:5-6; Isa 55:10-11; 2 Esdr 4:26-32; 8:41; 9:31-37; 1 Cor 3:6-9).

13:4-8 Jesus spoke of four places where the scattered seed fell. It is not clear whether the practice was to plow the ground before or after the seed was sown. In the first three cases, the seed did not produce a crop because it was eaten by birds, fell on shallow soil, or was choked by thorns (cf. Job 31:40). In the fourth case, however, the seed fell on fertile ground and produced various levels of crops, the least of which would be quite remarkable by ancient standards (13:8; cf. Gen 26:12). In 13:4, the seed should probably be understood as falling on the packed soil beside the path, not the packed soil of the path itself (cf. “on a footpath,” NLT). In 13:5-6 the problem is an underlying shelf of bedrock, not multiple rocks in the soil. Such soil warms rapidly, and the seed sprouts quickly, but the plant wilts as the soil soon loses moisture (cf. Jas 1:11).

13:9 Anyone with ears to hear should listen and understand. Jesus’ affirmation in 13:9 (cf. 11:15; 13:43; cf. Mark 4:23; Luke 14:35; Rev 2:7; 13:9) underlines the importance of the crowd’s grasping the meaning of the parable. His interpretation of the parable (13:18-23) shows its relevance to the crowd’s relationship to the message of the Kingdom.

COMMENTARY [Text]

After briefly mentioning the setting (13:1-2), Matthew narrates Jesus’ third major discourse (13:3-52; cf. the first discourse in Matt 5–7 and the second in Matt 10). The discourse can be seen as having two sections of four parables each if 13:51-52 is interpreted (correctly) as a parable. The first section is addressed to the crowds (13:3-33) and the second to the disciples (13:36-52). In both of these sections, Jesus answers a question from the disciples about parables (13:10-17, 36-43). Between the two sections is Matthew’s comment on the parables as prophetic fulfillment (13:34-35). It is also interesting to note that a pair of similar short parables concludes the first section and begins the second section (13:31-33, 44-46). Though some (see Hagner 1993:362-364) doubt that there is any symmetrical structure in the discourse, at least two proposals have some merit.

Wenham 1979 presents a structure involving chiasmus or introverted parallelism:

A. Parable of the Sower: Hearing the word of the Kingdom (13:1-9)

B. Disciples’ Question and Jesus’ Answer with Interpretation of the Sower (13:10-23)

C. Parable of the Tares: Good and evil (13:24-30)

D. Parables of the Mustard Seed and Leaven: Growth (13:31-33)

E. Explanation of parables and Interpretation of the Tares (13:34-43)

D’. Parables of Treasure and Pearl: Sacrifice (13:44-46)

C’. Parable of the Net: Good and evil (13:47-50)

B’. Jesus’ Question and Disciples’ Answer about Understanding Parables (13:51)

A’. Parable of the Homeowner: Trained for the Kingdom (13:52)

Wenham’s analysis notes the two halves of the discourse well. It also is correct in seeing the symmetry or the short paired parables of mustard seed/leaven and treasure/pearl. But it is not as convincing in its non-symmetrical placement of Jesus’ two interpretations of parables (13:10-17, 34-43).

Davies and Allison (1991:370-371) suggest a three part structure with each part beginning with a parable and containing both an interpretation of a parable and discussion of the parables:

1a. Parable of the Sower (13:1-9)

1b. Discussion of Parables with Scriptural Citation (13:10-17)

1c. Interpretation of the Sower (13:18-23)

2a. Parables of Tares, Mustard Seed, and Leaven (13:24-33)

2b. Discussion of Parables with Scriptural Citation (13:34-35)

2c. Interpretation of the Tares (13:36-43)

3a. Parables of the Treasure, Pearl, and Net (13:44-48)

3b. Interpretation of the Net (13:49-50)

3c. Discussion of Parables (13:51-52)

This approach has obvious strengths, but it tends to break down in section 3, where the order of discussion and interpretation is reversed.

The Interpretation of Parables. Davies and Allison (1991:378-382) present a brief, very helpful excursus on this matter. The history of the church and the experience of many Christians both testify to the prevalence of imaginative interpretations of Jesus’ parables. If a parable is “an earthly story with a heavenly meaning,” multitudes of such “heavenly” meanings have been superimposed upon the parables. The patristic transformation of the parable of the Good Samaritan into the story of Adam’s fall and redemption is probably the most notorious example of this allegorizing approach, which tends to atomize the parables and ignore their literary contexts. In recent years, a very different approach, reader-response criticism, yields results that frequently have only a tangential relationship to the historical and literary context of the parables. Over a hundred years ago, in reaction to the excesses of the allegorizers, A. Jülicher (Die Gleichnisreden Jesu, 1899) and many others since him have argued that Jesus’ parables, unlike allegories, have only one main point. But this narrow approach seems contrary to Jesus’ own interpretations of his parables (13:18-23, 37-43), let alone the polyvalence or flexibility of meaning inherent in the use of stories by skilled speakers and authors.

Therefore, it seems best to look at each parable in its own context in order to determine the degree to which its “earthly” details convey a “heavenly” meaning (Blomberg 1990:68-69; Ryken 1984:145-153, 199-203). Parables are indeed allegories, but they must not be allegorized. Their imagery must be understood in terms of their own ancient historical and literary conventions, not in terms of extraneous categories superimposed upon them by allegorizers. Since the imagery of Jesus’ parables is drawn from first-century Palestine, an understanding of the historical context is crucial. It is also important to note the literary context. At times, the preceding context provides the key since the parabolic imagery corresponds to key characters and issues in the narrative. Also, at times there is a concluding general comment that applies the parabolic imagery to a contextual matter.

The Interpretation of Matthew 13. Reading Matthew 13 in its context seems to indicate that Jesus intended his parables to reveal truths of the Kingdom to his disciples and to conceal those truths from the enemies of the Kingdom (13:10-15). The primary focus of the parables is reflection upon the varied responses to the Kingdom message (13:19). Thus, the primary background for the parables of Matthew 13 is the increasing opposition to Jesus and his message, which has been narrated in Matthew 11–12. The parables help the disciples understand this opposition. Classical dispensationalism is mistaken in its attempt to understand the parables as primarily referring to the future millennial kingdom, or as teaching the “mystery” of the offered, rejected, and postponed kingdom (Toussaint 1980:170-176; Walvoord 1974:96-97). The Kingdom was already inaugurated, according to Matthew 3:2; 4:17; 10:7; 12:28 (cf. the discussion of the Kingdom in the Major Themes section of the Introduction), and the parables are about its present progress in the ministry of Jesus and his disciples, as well as its future glories (13:43). Of course, application may be drawn from this historical context to modern contexts in which the message of the Kingdom is still being proclaimed. Ultimately, the disciples continue the mission of Jesus (24:14; 28:19), and their ministry continues until the end of the age (13:39, 43, 49; 24:14; 28:18-20).

Exposition of Matthew 13:1-9. Since the conclusion of the second discourse (11:1), Matthew has stressed the repeated rejection and opposition that Jesus experienced. The disciples would continue to experience the same trials in their mission as well (10:18, 24-25). Even John, whose doubts begin this section of the narrative (11:1-6), and Jesus’ own family, who occupy a position “outside” that of Jesus’ disciples as the narrative closes (12:46-50), were not fully in step with the proclamation of the gospel of the Kingdom. The Pharisees’ murder plot (12:14) indicates the implacable opposition of the religious leaders to Jesus’ ministry. Thus, the third discourse heavily stresses the mixed response to the Kingdom message and indicates that this will continue until the end of the age (13:23, 30, 40-43, 49-50), when God will punish those who reject the Kingdom and reward those who receive it.

Jesus spoke to the crowd in 13:2-33, and his parables directly addressed this crowd as a “mixed multitude” representing different responses to the message of the Kingdom. The parable of the sower becomes the predominant parable of this discourse, as it occasions the disciples’ question about the purpose of parables (13:10) and is given a detailed interpretation by Jesus (13:18-23). Many will not genuinely receive the message (13:19-23), and some who seem to receive it will ultimately turn out to be satanic counterfeits (13:24-30, 36-43). The parables will conceal the Kingdom from such unbelievers (13:10-17), but they will also reveal the glorious destiny of those who believe the message (13:43). Although this parable is usually called the parable of the sower, its interpretation by Jesus indicates that it is really about the soil, which pictures the varying responses to the message of the Kingdom. The parable amounts to an explanation of the opposition to the Kingdom proclaimed in the words of Jesus and exemplified by his deeds.